


Line of Best Fit

by SegaBarrett



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: "Rabid Dog" AU, Adoption, Gen, Season 5B, fostering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-09
Updated: 2013-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 22:55:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/997887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jesse and Hank go to Lydia's house to find answers, but they find something much more tragic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Line of Best Fit

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Breaking Bad, and I make no money from this.
> 
> A/N: Takes place sometime around "Rabid Dog", before the end.

“Stay in the car, Pinkman.”

Hank probably should have known that Jesse wasn’t going to listen. He hadn’t listened to anything so far.

It was Lydia’s house. They’d gone out there to question her, but obviously someone had gotten there first. A window had been broken and there were shell-casings on her front step.

“Lydia has a kid.” Jesse barely heard himself say it.

“Stay in the car,” Hank repeated. Then he got out of it and began circling the house.

Jesse opened the car door, waited until Hank was out of sight, and then went straight for the house. If Lydia’s kid was in there… There was no way in hell he was going to stay in the car. Hank had to be out of his goddamned mind.

If there was someone still in this house with a gun, then Jesse was going to be screwed. But so what?

His life was worth less than shit right now anyway. Mr. White was probably on the verge of having him killed anyhow. Saving this little kid might not balance out all that Jesse had done, but it was at least a start.

Jesse moved around the back and looked for a way in. He saw an open window. Maybe could fit through there. He was skinny enough.

Jesse approached the window and hoisted himself up, sticking his head in and gripping the windowsill. His stomach hurt as he pressed it against the metal. He hoped there was no broken glass there, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. A second later he crashed to the ground. Carpet. He did a near somersault… directly into something that made his heart freeze like Mr. White had frozen it in nitrogen.

Lydia was sprawled across the ground, legs splayed apart and her head lolling back on her neck. There was blood from somewhere Jesse couldn’t locate and didn’t want to, but the dark marks around her neck indicated that she’d been strangled.

Still, Jesse knelt by her and checked her pulse.

Nothing.

He had to find the little girl.

What was her name again? Had Lydia ever told him her name? No, probably for strategic reasons, making sure they didn’t have enough to use against her. Jesse should have done the same thing, never… But he’d never even told Mr. White Brock’s name. That evil mastermind dick had somehow found out on his own.

Who had killed Lydia? It could be any number of people.

“Hey!” Jesse called out. “Is anyone here? It’s okay. It’s safe to come out…” He started to slowly walk, stepping over a pile of broken glass. There was a weird light filtering against it, shining like a beacon. Of what? He didn’t know.

He stepped into the adjoining room, looking around for anywhere that the little girl might be. Please not dead. Never dead.

“Is anyone here? It’s okay.”

Not like she would believe him even if she heard him.

He saw a closet out of the corner of his eye, a white closet with a shiny silver doorknob.

He leaned in, pressing his ear against the door. He paused and waited. Somehow, he jus had a feeling about this door.

There was a sound of crying on the other side of the door. Jesse slowly opened it and looked inside.

A little girl was curled up in a ball, softly sobbing. Her short brown hair was bobbing up and down. Jesse couldn’t see her eyes.

“Hey,” Jesse called softly. “What’s your name?”

The girl very slowly uncurled, seemingly responding to Jesse’s soft, gentle tone.

“Hey,” Jesse coaxed again, “My name is Jesse. What happened?”

The little girl’s eyes went wide.

“Don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

“I won’t. I promise. What’s your name?” Jesse crouched down, touching his knee to the carpet.

“Kiira,” the girl whispered, curling back up again.

“Hi, Kiira. That’s a nice name,” Jesse said. “Can you come out of there? I’m going to get you out of here and make sure that you’re safe.”

Kiira shivered in her spot.

“They hurt Mommy,” she whimpered, shaking back and forth. Jesse could feel his heart shattering in his chest.

“I know, Kiira,” he told her softly. He extended his hand to her. “It’s okay. Let me take you somewhere safe.”

Kiira looked up, suspicious but seeming to not see any other options and not wanting to stay there.

Jesse opened his hand.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“What about Mommy?” Kiira whispered. Jesse swallowed. He didn’t want to tell her the truth, but he didn’t have the heart to lie, either.

“Kiira,” Jesse whispered, “She’s sleeping right now. I think she went to Heaven. But she wants you to be safe. She loves you very much.”

Kiira very slowly reached out her little hand and put it in Jesse’s. He gently pulled back and lifted her up.

“I could carry you,” he offered gently, and she gave a little sound of approval. Jesse lifted her up, scooped her up and started to walk, keeping her eyes shielded from Lydia’s body, never wanting her to have to see that.

He made it to the front door and opened it, walking out and immediately finding himself in the path of a furious Hank Schrader.

“You high little shit! I told you to stay in the car! I told you…” Hank looked at Jesse ajd noticed the little girl in his arms for the first time. “Oh God.”

“Lydia’s daughter,” Jesse whispered.

“Take her back to the car,” Hank said with a sigh. “I’ll call Texas CPS.”

***

“All right so listen, Agent Schrader… I’m just going to give it to you straight.” The social worker had long blonde curly hair and a thick Southern accent. “Mr. Pinkman here would like to take care of the little girl, Kiira Quayle, until we can find her a permanent family.”

“Pinkman is a DEA informant in a huge drug case, not to mention a junkie dipshit and general scum of the Earth.”

The woman looked across at where Jesse had Kiira sitting across from him. They were silently playing some modified version of Patty Cake.

“What about this one, Jesse?” Kiira spoke up quietly, shaking so hard it looked like she would break down, but with her eyes locked in on Jesse like he was the only good thing left in the world. She raised her hands. “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black…”

“ASAC Schrader… even with everything you just told me, he’s probably better than 90% of the people we could get to take in this kid.”

“You’re shitting me right now. You’re proposing that a five-year-old kid should be given… to Jesse Pinkman. Because that can’t end badly.”

“Agent Schrader, with all due respect… it tends to end badly for most of the children who are in the system. Mr. Pinkman seems to want to take care of this little girl, at least in the short-term. I say we let him. And after all, you said he’s living with you. She can’t be much safer than living in a DEA agent’s house.”

***

Jesse was indeed still staying at Hank’s, at least for the time being, as Kiira took up another of the Schraders’ four rooms. Marie kept her clothed in purple but Hank, keeping to his reluctant word, let Jesse be the one to take care of the girl. He fed her, read to her, and talked to her when she woke up in the middle of the night, missing Lydia.

Jesse didn’t know Lydia well, and what he knew wasn’t all that positive. Mike had certainly not had a lot of patience for her. But when Jesse talked to Kiira, Lydia became a different person.

“Your mother,” Jesse told the little girl one night, “Loved you so much. She was gentle and good and loved you and wanted you to be safe. And always know that you are loved.”

Kiira leaned in and hugged him. Jesse hugged her back, letting her curl into his thin frame.

“Tell me a story, Jesse,” she whispered.

“Okay, Kiira.” Jesse took out a book, looked into her eyes, and began to read.

**The End**


End file.
